Agent: Freeney didn't attend party

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on January 31, 2010, 3:48 PM EST

In response to the post from Rosenthal regarding multiple reports and tweets indicating that Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney hosted and attended a party in Miami on Saturday night, Freeney’s agent contacted us with an unequivocal comment on the situation.

“Dwight did not attend the party, and he did not know that his name was going to be attached to it,” Gary Wichard told us by phone. Wichard said he first heard of the situation when reading our blurb on his Blackberry (hopefully with Sprint service), and that he plans to get to the bottom of how Freeney’s name came to be associated with the event.

Wichard said that Freeney has been getting “non-stop” treatment on his sprained ankle in the hopes of being able to play next Sunday, when the Colts face the Saints in the Super Bowl.

Also, Wichard confirmed (as we reported recently) that Freeney will not be attending the Pro Bowl tonight. Freeney has been excused by the league, so that he can continue the process of treating his injury.

Regardless of which teams you root for or against, I think most of us can agree: this site has become a true embarrassment. It’s honestly devolved into the sporting equivilant of the National Enquirer, with its poorly written rumor-mongering and its transparent attempts to ‘instigate trouble’, only to hastily retract half of what they write when confronted by players’ agents and attorneys.
Also, if you wonder why this site is the ONLY one that almost never gets interviews or direct quotes from players, it’s because the players either 1) view this site as too meaningless and insignificant to even bother with and/or 2) know that it’s a rumor-mongering joke.

MF…Why are you so obsessed with the Colts? The people that come to this site want legit updates on NFL news. Nobody wants to hear your cynical opinions and judgements or manufactured stories that you make up. Stick to what your good at. It’s okay to poke fun at certain teams and players when they choke or do something stupid…but the manner in which you go about it with the Colts just isn’t funny. Stick to making fun of tools like T.O. JaMarcus Russell and OchoStinko. We all know that Peyton Manning has an enormous head and throws teammates under the bus and that Bill Polian is an ultra d-bag but it’s not as if these guys are a menace to society and getting arrested and beating women. The truth is that the Colts are a smart classy organization that gets rid or troublemakers. All of this talk by the Jets and the Saints…but none of the Colts ever bite…they just come outand win ballgames. Your biased and uninspired coverage along with the fake stories is ruining what used to be an excellent website

P.S. I think more agents should be like Freeney’s: directly confronting Florio about what a rumor-mongering sleaze he is, hence leading to this sort of embarrassing, hasty retraction from the always lawsuit-conscious Florio.
This site is the on-line version of those supermarket tabloids (‘OMG, Elvis is Alive!’)that everyone with even an ounce of intelligence is too embarrassed to buy.

PFT with a false story? Never!
I’m sure PFT is going to continue to mention tweets and sightings and try and create a grey area so they can pretend that the story wasn’t baloney. Newsflash, your sources passed some hear-say your way.

What’s next? Paris Hilton updates? Sasquatch sightings? Does anyone really care if Freeney went to a party?…And if so, why? Why don’t you have the “Lifestlyes of the Rich an Famous” guy write for this site. It’s not about football here anymore. It’s derailing right before your eyes…

@ racf617 and Lewballer3
Why do you guys come here? I can get filtered news in plenty of other places. PFT offers something different and that’s probably why it has grown so much. If you’ll notice, it does say “Rumors” at the top of the page. PFT continues to be different and I like it!

This is what happens when your sole intent in printing a story is to generate hits to a website to please your sponsors.
Maybe you can find a new angle on Tebow abortion commercials to intentionally stoke another flame war and generate some more traffic.

So you posted a headline FREENEY HOST PARTY before you checked the story. I think a high school reporter would at least know to check out a story before making a headline. I know your really hurting for stories right now, but Im sick of reading bullshit headlines that are not true.

“What’s next? Paris Hilton updates? Sasquatch sightings?”
LOL…sadly, that might be a step up for this site in journalistic quality 😉
“We all know that Peyton Manning has an enormous head and throws teammates under the bus and that Bill Polian is an ultra d-bag but it’s not as if these guys are a menace to society and getting arrested and beating women. The truth is that the Colts are a smart classy organization that gets rid or troublemakers. ”
I disagree about Peyton being a jerk, but your basic point about Florio’s weird obsession with Indy is a valid one. The funniest part was reading his posts after the Weeks 16-17 ‘sitting the starters’ debacle…Florio acted like they’d burnt down several orphanages and slaughtered a small village rather than, say, deciding to rest players. (A decision I disagreed with, by the way, but the point is Florio’s usual propensity for blowing things ridiculously out of proportion).
“Why don’t you have the “Lifestlyes of the Rich an Famous” guy write for this site.”
That guy’s actually semi-literate and possesses a shred of insight, so he wouldn’t fit in well with Florio and his ‘esteemed’ colleagues.

why do you think they have the superbowl/probowl in miami? ass capital of the world. and not just for the athletes. agents, tv guys, corporations, other celebs, anybody with money. none of this should be surprising.
girls are in lines outside these players/millionaires hotel rooms/ club VIP rooms/ whatever, ready to bang them on sight. and most do it on a weekly basis. what do you think the distractions are you always hear about for the superbowl? the media? wrong. it’s the same as it always is, but superbowl week is just 1000 magnitudes more distracting: women, money, endorsements, drugs, women, money drugs, women , women, etc etc.

This used to be one of my favorite football sites.
I left this site for over two months because I was digusted with the content of the stories, and the middle school quality writing. When I returned about a week ago, I found things worse than when I left.
I guess writers are much like the players they write about. Once they have a modicom of success, they become so full of themselves they think the world has to accept any drivel they print.
It seems to me if Florio were any better at lawyering than writing, he’d still be lawyering. I can only imagine what a dreg of a lawyer he was.
So I’m out of here once again. Too bad. This was once a doggone good site.

racf617 says:
( snip )
Also, if you wonder why this site is the ONLY one that almost never gets interviews or direct quotes from players, it’s because the players either 1) view this site as too meaningless and insignificant to even bother with and/or 2) know that it’s a rumor-mongering joke.
……………………………………………………………………
you make some good points..dont see why the Rex Ryan story would even be posted in the first place
as far as Freeney it should have been easy to confirm
last year they had Ted Sundquist scout 3 games each week….it was great to get insight from someone with an NFL background but since NBC we get less & less actual football…the apologists always say its rumours but to me a rumour comes with some basis in fact from a source close to the situation
PFT has a great chance this week to try & get interveiws with NFL folks ( especially with the association with NBC ) & I hope its taken advantage of rather than hanging out with the usual suspects & making radio apperances
but I dont think it will happen & its sad because this site could be the best football site around…not bashing Florio but I hope he realizes soon that quality beats quanity & even though the NBC $$$ are great this place is slipping towards parody (ala KSK’s Peter King posts ) …there are still a lot of good commenters here but many have left & most threads degenerate into flame wars & name calling
if it continues I am afraid that a year from now this place will be to NFL news ( & rumours ) what MTV is to music

If you all hate the site so much, why are you here? It must be to b*tch and moan about anything and everything because you hate your own pathetic lives and wish you had your own site. Well hey, BLOGS ARE FREE LOSERS, stop your hating, don’t come to this site or get to work and WRITE YOUR OWN. I doubt you do any of the three OBVIOUS choices. Here is to the further success of this site and the further frustrations of “haters”

Oh, Bucky, what a wonderful coincidence: at the mention of illiterate scumbag trolls, you happen to appear right on cue!
How, exactly, is Freeney claiming a serious ankle injury attempting to ‘get over’ on anyone? And why am I expecting a fair and logical reply from a classless, scarily stupid person who has nothing better to do than spend an inordinate amount of time trolling our boards?!
The Saints were just penalized with an exorbitant number of fines for their dirty plays last week. They’re known around the league as overrated, dirty scumbags. And, yet, in your pea-sized mind, the Colts are shady?! Riiiiight.
Seriously, why are instigative, illiterate trolls like ‘Bucky’ even allowed to post here? It ruins the discussion for people who, unlike Bucky, are actually capable of having one.

@ newcaymanS & others :
a little constuctive criticism never hurts & I give props to Florio for posting the comments
most if not all the comments in this thread are legitimate & thought out unlike yours…its funny that the ” if you dont like it leave crowd ” that always shows up is 99% is some nic I have never seen before
I have been reading here since 2005 & posting occasionally ever since comments were allowed & its apparent to me a lot of worthwhile commenters have left in the last year
probably doesnt matter to Florio if more do…Al Michaels will recruit a 1000 idiots when he props the site in the first SNF game next year
but a lot of us who have been around for awhile comment because we care & like this place..Florio will listen or he wont I guess